As a lifelong car enthusiast I’ve strived to combine my passion for four-wheeled transportation with my writing skills and business acumen. The ultimate goal was a rewarding career as an automotive journalist/analyst. After 20 years in this industry, with roles ranging from editorial assistant at Hot Rod magazine to feature editor at Super Street magazine to editor in chief at Edmunds.com, I’ve experienced the automotive world from multiple perspectives. In June 2013 I joined Kelley Blue Book as their Senior Director of Industry Insights. In this role I review the latest industry data and work with KBB’s market intelligence team to validate the competitive landscape and identify and report on trends. The automotive marketplace has never been more competitive, with rapidly evolving technology driving advances in the areas of passenger safety, fuel efficiency and in-car connectivity. Automakers are under pressure to keep pace, which means new-car shoppers now have access to the most advanced and capable vehicles ever produced.

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Google Goes Driving...Sort Of

You can read the details on Google’s blog, but the short version is as follows: GoogleGoogle has officially jumped into the realm of automotive production. The technology giant has spent years testing the boundaries of self-driving vehicles by attaching various forms of technology to existing cars like Toyota’s Prius. Now Google is building its own car, from scratch, to see if it can create a completely autonomous vehicle for drivers who don’t want to drive.

A limited number of these autonomous Google cars will be built and tested over the next few years. With no steering wheel or pedals, and a 25 mph top speed, Google is prepared to approach personal transportation from an entirely new angle.

The Google car will offer a…distinctive look.

And as unconventional as it sounds, this approach actually makes a lot of sense as a long-term solution. If one imagines the most effective, efficient and safe method for transporting people utilizing tomorrow’s technology, this is how it might work:

1. Cars are not parked in private garages but in centralized parking structures 2. The cars are powered by electricity that comes from solar panels or other renewable energy sources 3. These cars are fully autonomous, with fully-integrated navigation systems and internet connections

With the above factors in place a person could “call” one of these vehicles using a cell phone or similar personal device. The vehicle would leave the parking structure and follow an individual’s phone signal to meet them, at which point the person would get in and announce where they want to go. The vehicle would drive to the new location, drop the passenger off, and return to the parking structure until called again.

As an automotive enthusiast the above scenario holds no personal appeal. But as a technology fan that has always appreciated the potential of solving society’s problems with high-tech solutions, this scenario works brilliantly. Suddenly there’s no need to buy a car, store a car, insure a car or fuel a car. Instead you pay a monthly subscription fee and only deal with a car when you actually need one.

A host of challenges need to be overcome before this vision of autonomous transportation can work. The technology and infrastructure demands are obvious, but so are the hurdles of creating a new automotive business model in which nobody owns a car — or at least nobody needs to own a car.

Will we get there? How long will it take? What will happen to the millions of pre-autonomous cars already operating on our roadways? These are all great questions with a range of possible answers. But Google’s move into the world of personal transportation means we’ll probably know the answers in the not-too-distant future.

Karl Brauer has spent over 20 years working in the automotive industry as a writer, analyst, web designer, online business consultant and media representative.

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